p. 68 | Justice Awakening

The Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Jan 26, 1864

Justice Awakening.

APPROPRIATE retribution seems to be at last overtaking the fearfully guilty parties who have for long years held multitudes of their fellow beings in bondage, and who at last for the sake of spreading and perpetuating their hellish system of slavery, inaugurated the present bloody and fiendish rebellion. What could be more appropriate than that the slaves themselves should be the instruments used to punish the merciless tyrants who have so long ground them to the dust. Such is so far beginning to be the case, that even the swamps where the slaves have been wont to secrete themselves to avoid the lash of cruel masters, those same masters now seek, to hide from vengeance which they know they deserve, and which they fear will be meted out to them at the hands of their former outraged and oppressed slaves. The following account of a guerrilla hunt in North Carolina, shows that Justice, though seemingly long delayed, is nevertheless following with relentless steps upon the heels of the oppressor; while the fact that three thousand slaves were set free as the result of one expedition, will be cheering to all in whose heart a single spark of humanity yet lives.

A GUERRILLA HUNT IN NORTH CAROLINA BY COLORED TROOPS.

General Butler's organization of colored troops, recent as it is, proves to be efficient, brave and dashing. The outrages of the rebel guerrillas of North Carolina having got to that pass when exemplary punishment became necessary, General Butler ordered General Wild to collect his colored battalions stationed in the vicinity of Norfolk, and go forth on a "raid" through the guerrilla country. Special orders were given to bring in all the slaves. The expedition, numbering eighteen hundred men, was commanded by General Wild in person, and left Norfolk three weeks and

a half ago. It returned with the following report of results accomplished: Three thousand North Carolina slaves were set free; three hundred and fifty teams of horses, oxen, and mules were captured, besides fifty saddle-horses; four guerrilla camps and a great amount of supplies were destroyed; the houses and barns of a score or more of rebels were burned; one guerrilla was hanged; several prisoners were brought in; and the entire loss of our forces was thirteen men. The brave blacks who did all this were very eager for a regular fight, but the rebels ran away hiding in the same swamps which used to shelter the slaves when the bloodhounds chased them. The way in which the tables were turned is neatly described by a correspondent of The New York Times who accompanied the expedition:

"In regard to its moral and political results, the importance of the raid cannot be overestimated. The counties invaded by the colored troops were completely panic-stricken. Scores of families, for no cause but a guilty conscience, fled into the swamps on their approach. Never was a region thrown into such commotion by a raid before. Proud scions of chivalry, accustomed to claim the most abject obedience from their slaves, literally fell on their knees before these armed and uniformed blacks and begged for their lives. No sooner would the brigade enter a neighborhood, than General Wild's quarters would be besieged by those wishing to take the oath of allegiance and secure the protection of the Government. Their slaves might all go—they would give them up willingly—only let their lives and property be protected. Union meetings were held in several places, and delegations sent to General Wild, proposing to do anything 'to be saved.' One set of resolutions was signed by fifty-nine planters, and another by seventy-six, while the return of the expedition was preceded and followed by hundreds of North Carolinians hastening to Norfolk to obtain certificates of their loyalty. One hundred and twenty vehicles crossed Great Bridge in a single day, containing persons journeying thither for this laudable purpose. An army of 50,000 blacks could march from one end of Rebeldom to the other almost without opposition, the terror they would inspire making them invincible."